Tennessee basketball: 5 takeaways from Vols 95-93 loss to Arkansas Razorbacks
Tennessee basketball lost its SEC opener to the Arkansas Razorbacks. Here are five takeaways from the Volunteers’ loss.
They fought back in the final minute of the game, but Tennessee basketball still blew a golden opportunity on Saturday. The Vols blew a late lead to the Arkansas Razorbacks in regulation to lose on the road 95-93 in overtime.
With the loss, the Vols fall to 9-3 overall and 0-1 in the SEC, while the Razorbacks improve to 11-2 and 1-0 in the conference. In the scope of things, it’s not a terrible loss considering how good Arkansas is and the fact that it was on the road. And with Grant Williams fouling out in regulation, it makes more sense.
The Vols then fell behind by 11 in overtime with 47 seconds left and almost came back to win. However, with such a lead in regulation, it was still a missed opportunity. Tennessee had no business blowing this game.
There are numerous reasons this loss happened. Here are five takeaways from Tennessee basketball’s SEC-opening loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Rick Barnes had his worst coaching performance.
There’s no way around it. Again, Rick Barnes is great at recruiting, evaluating talent, developing players, and running a program altogether. But his in-game strategies leave a lot to be desired. That happened here. The key failure was at the end. Chris Darrington had one free throw left with the Vols down by three and a second and a half to go. Barnes inexplicably told Darrington to make the free throw. That was a terrible decision. But poor decisions preceded that.
Tennessee basketball struggled with Mike Anderson’s press defense throughout the day. That part is understandable. But eventually, they should be able to handle in-bounds plays. They still committed a few turnovers there. Then, Anderson adjusted on defense and got more aggressive. After Williams fouled out, Barnes allowed for too many Jordan Bone isolation plays out of half court sets. Movement elsewhere was nowhere to be found. We can blame Williams fouling out. However, the Vols should have been able to do more without him. That goes to our next point.
Guards had awful awareness.
Rick Barnes’s coaching was still bad. But the guards did nothing to help him out. Although they deserve credit for their unselfish play and hot shooting, they too often miss easy plays. Lamonte Turner and Jordan Bone both separately missed easy backdoor cuts at times. Jordan Bowden remains far too passive.
And when Grant Williams was out of the game, the guards did not move at all to space the floor. These Jordan Bone iso plays are as much on them as they are on Barnes. As a result, the lack of awareness cost them, particularly in overtime. And that has got to improve.
Defense was one bright spot.
Arkansas scores in bunches. They go on huge runs. But this is a team that averages 90 points a game. So Tennessee basketball deserves a ton of credit for holding them to 73 points on the road in regulation. Sure, they had a late run, but that’s to be expected. You have to blame the Vols’ offense for not responding when that happened.
The Vols forced nine turnovers in the first half against a team that commits 10 a game on average. They did everything they could to win this game on that side of the ball. Sure, this unit came apart in overtime. But entering OT, Williams had fouled out. And the Vols had three other guys in foul trouble who also fouled out in the OT. That, by the way, leads to our next point.
Officials were terrible.
This was the second straight game that Tennessee basketball played where officiating was too aggressive on both sides. Grant Williams’s final two fouls both should have been no-calls, and they happened within a minute of each other. Three other guys fouled out in overtime, and two Razorbacks fouled out while another had four.
The officiating allowed Arkansas back in the game and cost the Vols in overtime. However, it was also bad enough to let Tennessee back in the game late. Again, they called ticky-tack fouls both ways, but it disproportionately hurt the Vols since they lost more key players. The SEC needs to go back and take a look at this. If Tennessee basketball can’t be aggressive under the basket, they are in trouble for the rest of the year.
Free throw shooting was oddly bad.
Amidst the bad coaching, the foul trouble and the late mistakes, the most uncharacteristic thing that happened for Tennessee basketball in this game was poor free throw shooting. The Vols shoot 74 percent from the foul line on the year. In this game, they shot 69 percent.
Jordan Bone missed a key free throw that would have won the game for Tennessee basketball in regulation. Chris Darrington made the final two free throws, when he should have missed the last one, but also missed two free throws in regulation that also would’ve been the difference. The Vols outshot the Razorbacks at the line, but they are a better free throw shooting team. That’s supposed to be a difference in their favor. In regulation of this game, it wasn’t. And that was a major problem. Blowing opportunities at the line cost them a golden opportunity for an SEC road win.